LOS ALAMITOS, California, December 7. THE USA Women's National Team opened up the 8th International Holiday Cup with a tight 5-4 victory over continental rival, Canada. Team USA will play two games tomorrow leading off with the Netherlands at 11:30 a.m. and finishing the evening against Russia at 7 p.m. The Holiday Cup is being held at the USA Water Polo National Training Center in Los Alamitos, Calif. <\/p>\n
Tonight's USA game started with Canada taking a 2-0 lead early in the first quarter. Then Team USA's Natalie Golda scored back-to-back goals to tie up the game in the second period. The USA scored its third straight goal when Patty Cardenas delivered a shot 27 seconds before half-time to take the lead 3-2.<\/p>\n
In the third quarter, Canada's Alison Braden scored a penalty shot to once again tie the game 3-3. Team USA responded with its own penalty shot (Brenda Villa) earned by Moriah van Norman with 15 seconds left in the quarter. Villa's score put the USA ahead 4-3 going into the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Canada came back halfway through the fourth quarter to tie the game 4-4. But Team USA was not about to sit back and relax. With 1:08 left on the clock, Team USA took advantage of a 6 on 5 with a beautiful shot by Ericka Lorenz that gave the USA the win with a final score of 5-4.<\/p>\n
Game #1 – RUSSIA 13, NETHERLANDS 13
\nFlash Quotes:
\nNetherlands Head Coach Robin Van Galen – "We did not start well. The entire game was up and down. We improved in the 2nd quarter but made too many mistakes in the 3rd quarter. In the end, we were lucky."
\nRussia Head Coach Alexander Kleymenov – "We made a simple mistake in the end and it cost us the game." <\/p>\n
Box Score
\nRUSSIA 5 – 2 – 4 – 2 — 13
\nNETHERLANDS 4 – 4 – 1- 4 — 13 <\/p>\n
Individual Scoring
\nRUSSIA – Konukh 5, Glyzina 3, Smurova 2, Soboleva 2, Patyulina 1 NETHERLANDS – Guichelaar 5, Koot 3, Sijbring 2, Cabout 2, Van Belkum 1 <\/p>\n
Goal Saves
\nRUSSIA – Baranova 10
\nNETHERLANDS – Ars 7 <\/p>\n
Game # 2 – AUSTRALIA 12, ITALY 9
\nFlash Quotes:
\nAustralia Head Coach Greg McFadden – "Our first-half was good, we had good control. We lost our discipline in the rest of the game. Overall I am happy with the team's performance." Italy Head Coach Mauro Maugeri
\n– "Our team is very young. This was the 1st time for many of the players so tonight's game was a success." <\/p>\n
Box Score
\nAUSTRALIA 4 – 5 – 2 – 1 — 12
\nITALY 1- 2 – 2 – 4 — 9 <\/p>\n
Individual Scoring
\nAUSTRALIA – Beadsworth 3, Hadley 2, Fraser 2, Knox 1, Gynther 1, Santomorito 1, Hetzl 1, Finucane 1 ITALY – Biancardi 3, Miceli 2, Biancardi 2, Emmolo 2, Rocco 1, Musumeci
\n1 <\/p>\n
Goal Saves
\nAUSTRALIA – E. Knox 10
\nITALY – Brancati 6 <\/p>\n
Game # 3 – USA 5 , CANADA 4
\nFlash Quotes:
\nUSA Head Coach Guy Baker – "We are focusing on our defense and 5 on 6 and I think we performed well in both of these areas." Canada Head Coach Pat Oaten – "It was a competitive game – we (Canada & USA) are both feeling each other's game out and trying a lot of things. We have a young team and I am happy with the competition tonight."<\/p>\n
Box Score
\nUSA 1 – 2 – 1 – 1 — 5
\nCANADA 2 – 0 – 1 – 1 — 4<\/p>\n
Individual Scoring
\nUSA Golda 2, Lorenz 1, Villa 1, Cardenas 1 CANADA Valin 1, Braden 1, Robinson 1, Campbell 1 <\/p>\n
Goal Saves
\nUSA Armstrong 6
\nCANADA Riddell 6<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LOS ALAMITOS, California, December 7. THE USA Women's National Team opened up the 8th International Holiday Cup with a tight 5-4 victory over continental rival, Canada. Team USA will play<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n